The American Chapter of the Irish Georgian Society visited the Yale Center for British Art on Saturday, Sept. 24th. The Yale Center for British Art was founded by Paul Mellon ( 1907 -1999), an unparalleled collector of British art. The collection is the most comprehensive representation of British art held outside the United Kingdom.  The tour was led by Mr.Christopher Monkhouse, the Curator of European Decorative Arts at The Art Institute of Chicago. Christopher organized the great Irish exhibition at the Art Institute in 2015, where the Yale Center of British Art was among the largest lenders.

Amy Meyers (Director of the Yale Center for British Art) addressing the group

Scott Wilcox, Deputy Director of Collections, with US Board Member Susan Burke conferring with Director Amy Meyers.
 

Board member Susan Burke viewing the wonders of A Macaw, Ducks, Parrots and Other Birds in a Landscape (1708-10) by Jacob Bogdani, 1660–1724, 

We were met by Amy Meyers, the Director of the Yale Center for British Art, who welcomed our group and gave us an overview of how the collection was formed and an overview of the recently completed year long renovation of the 1977 Louis Kahn designed building that houses the Center at Yale.  Scott Wilcox, Deputy Director of Collections, then led us on a walking tour of the collection, joined by Beth Miller, Deputy Director for Advancement and External Affairs who was instrumental in organizing the event.

Following the tour, our merry group had an enjoyable lunch nearby and then visited the Yale Art Gallery, where we were met by Patrica E. Kane, Friends of American Arts Curator of American Decorative Arts​, who organized the exhbit​: 'Art and Industry in Early America: Rhode Island Furniture, 1650–1830', which has recently opened.

Board members Beth Dater, Patrick Killian and Chantal O'Sullivan in the Long Gallery

Exploring the Founder's Room at The Yale Center for British Art

Our leader, Christopher Monkhouse, observing the goings-on in The Founder's Room, YCBA, with Good friend Claire Edwards

This private tour was also a great success and very much enjoyed by our band of Irish Georgians.

The private tours ended with a small reception before our guests went on their way.​

Words: Michael Kerrigan, Executive Director (USA)

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The Liberties was the thriving textile district of Dublin from the late 1600s onwards and over the years there has been every kind of textile production in this quarter from silk and linen weavers, leather tanners, cloth dyers and poplin manufacturers. This tour took a stroll through the fascinating fashion and textile history with a look at where and how textiles were produced and taking in buildings of architectural and cultural significance from Tailors' Hall on Back Lane, the Iveagh Markets on Francis Street to the heart of the silk weaving area of Weavers Street and Newmarket Square.

Our tour was led by fashion historian Ruth Griffin. Beginning at the arch of the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) Ruth took us on a journey through the centuries, detailing the history of the Guilds that thrived in the Liberties district from the 17th century onwards.

The Liberties was a district that fell just outside Dublin’s medieval city walls, in the 17th and 18th centuries French Huguenots (fleeing religious persecution in France) arrived in Dublin, settling mainly in the Liberties, where they became part of the existing weaving guilds. They were experienced silk weavers and their expertise contributed to the establishment of a thriving silk and poplin industry. Poplin (a fabric composed of wool and silk) was admired for its rich texture and lustre, and was widely used in Irish and English dress.

The group had the opportunity to see inside Tailors Hall, the city’s oldest surviving guild hall - saved from demolition in the 1980s by the Irish Georgian Society. Tailor’s Hall had a variety of different uses, including a meeting place for the Tailors' Guild and other Guilds, it was used for entertainment, teaching, as an army barracks and a court house. The back lane behind Tailor’s Hall housed shoe and leather factories, some even operating up until the 1990s.

From Fumbally Lane, the group studied the last intact Georgian house (‘Atkinson House’) on New Street (one of Dublin’s oldest streets despite its name!). This Georgian house was once owned by Richard Atkinson, the Silk Merchant, industrialist, philanthropist and two time Lord Mayor of Dublin. Atkinsons pioneered the manufacture and trade of Irish poplin - transforming it from a cottage industry into a factory one and establishing a market for it abroad. Atkinson’s was the leading manufacturer of Irish poplin in the Victorian period, and Queen Victoria’s trousseau contained Atkinson’s Irish poplin, woven in the Liberties, in 1837 she had granted Atkinson’s a Royal Warrant.

In the 17th century, European tradesmen settling in the area brought their own distinctive architectural styles to the city, such as gable-fronted houses or ’Dutch Billys’ as they were known. One such house was the Dowager House on 10 Mill Lane, near Newmarket Square - the townhouse of the Brabazon family. The Brabazons, who later became Earls of Meath, were the dominant landowners in the Liberties for over 300 years, and many of the street names reflect this: Meath Street, Brabazon Street and Ardee Street. Newmarket Square was laid out by the second Earl of Meath in the 1620s.

In 2009, Dublin City Council noted that the house “appears to be the last extant double gabled Dutch Billy” in the city. The house is currently undergoing conservation, and change is rapidly happening in the area, as new student flats are being constructed close by in Blackpitts.

The tour concluded at Weavers Square, where Weavers Hall once stood and those who remained headed to beloved Liberties haunt Fallons pub for a pint of Guinness and King crisps!

Young Irish Georgians events are organised for all members of the Society under 40 years of age. Join our mailing list if you would like be notified of upcoming events: http://eepurl.com/Gll1f

Thank you to our guide Ruth Griffin, and to Ian Lumley for faciliating a visit inside Tailor's Hall.

View more photos from the tour on our facebook page.

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Desmond Guinness Scholarship 2016

The Desmond Guinness Scholarship is awarded annually by the Irish Georgian Society to an applicant or applicants engaged in research on the visual arts of Ireland including the work of Irish architects, artists and craftsmen at home and abroad, 1600-1900.  Preference will be given to work based on original documentary research. The Scholarship is intended primarily for applicants who are not yet established at an advanced professional level in research or publication of the visual arts. From 2015, the Scholarship has been supported by members of the Society's London Chapter.

The Scholarship does not have to be awarded in any one year, and the decision of the assessors, appointed by the Irish Georgian Society, is final.

The total value of the scholarship fund available for distribution is in the region of €1,000.

Application forms must be submitted (by post) by 2pm, Wednesday 26th October 2016

Download an application form and guidelines here. 

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On Saturday 10th September we were delighted to host a lunch for the Society's Benefactor and Patron members at No. 12 Henrietta Street, the home of Ian Lumley. Before the lunch guests were led on a private tour of the King's Inns Library and Dining Hall, led by Dr. Edward McParland, an expert on the work of James Gandon (1743–1823) and co-author of James Gandon: vitruvius hibernicus (1985). Dr. McParland described the architecture of these buildings in the wider context of the development of Henrietta Street, Dublin's earliest Georgian street, which was extensively developed by Luke Gardiner during the 1720s. The changing fortunes and character of Henrietta Street was particularly noted with the ongoing conservation work currently being undertaken by Dublin City Council at No. 14 Henrietta Street, to establish it as a tenement museum, showing its development from a mansion for Dublin's wealthiest citizens in the Georgian period to a tenement housing more than 100 of Dublin’s poorest citizens.

Eddie McParland leading a tour of the King's Inns - taking in the Library and Dining Hall, designed by James Gandon 

Eddie McParland detailing the architectural design of Gandon's Dining Hall at King's Inns to the group

King's Inns Dining Hall, designed by James Gandon c.1800

No. 12 Henrietta St - the eclectic setting for our Benefactors' and Patrons' Lunch

Mary Bryan (IGS Board member), Roisin Lambe (Membership and Events Administrator), Sindy Broe and Kay Mitchell

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A longstanding member has donated a collection of Irish miniatures to the IGS which has recently gone on public display in the Print Room at Castletown. The carefully selected group focuses on the Boyle family, Earls of Shannon and on members of the FitzGerald family of Carton. Paul Caffrey who has written a book on the subject notes: ‘few historic family collections of miniatures have survived in Ireland making this a truly remarkable collection of national importance’.

The IGS has had a long relationship with Castletown and the OPW and Castletown Foundation who run it, and, over many years has lent important paintings and furniture to the house. Many of these were catalogued in the fine volume Castletown, Decorative Arts (OPW, 2011).

Images of the minatures collection will be featured in the 2016 edition of the Irish Georgian Society Review, which will be published and delivered to all members in October 2016.

Visit Castletown's website for vistior information and opening hours.

Images courtesy of Linda Kearns.

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Built c. 1700, Beaulieu is one of Ireland’s earliest surviving country houses and is still lived in today by descendants of its original owners. The house is situated on the banks of the River Boyne and lying close by is a walled garden dating from c. 1720 which remains largely original to its early design. At the entrance to the walled garden is a three-sided pavilion dating from the 1760s with a pedimented portico overlooking lawns to one side, on its southern facing side, tripartite window openings allow light to flood in. 

The Irish Georgian Society has secured funding in the US, UK and Ireland to go toward the restoration of the pavilion, which stands today in a precarious state. The Heritage Council has also provided a grant toward the preparation of a conservation report for the restoration of the Garden Pavilion. 

For Heritage Week 2016 Beaulieu hosted a walking tour of the gardens on Thursday 25th August. The tour was led by architect Richard Mc Loughlin (of Lotts Architecture), who gave the group a history of the house, gardens and Garden Pavilion. Richard has prepared a conservation report on the Garden Pavilion, and will be advising the owners of Beaulieu on how to sensitively restore and conserve the pavilion for future generations of visitors to Beaulieu.

 

 

Photos: Cara Konig

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